Makwayela is an expressive mode who played an important role in the culture of Southern Mozambique.
It includes singing, dancing, oral literature, and elaborate clothing.
It is performed by groups of men both in the neighborhoods of Maputo as in the small villages of the South. makwayela texts perform an integrative function in society, and are full of allegories and parable.
They mention family, health and sickness, religion, marriage, politics, war and death.
Its importance as modulator in family, work-place and the Mozambican society at large is enormous.
Makwayela songs point to socially accepted rules of behavior.
They are a functional element in the culture of the region.
Makwayela, the expressive mode portrayed by these recordings, originated and
developed according to historical junctures in both Southeast Africa and Mozambican society.
Unlike any other expressive mode, makwayela reflects the historical events that shaped
modern Mozambican society and made Southern Mozambique an important part of the economic system
of South Africa.
Its historical itinerary included: its genesis, which took place when migration paths from Southern Mozambique to the Transvaal became well established; its expansion in the city when substantial numbers of migrants returned to the countryside started to settle in Lourenço Marques; its heightening when it was adopted and fostered as a national symbol,during the lst Republic (1975) regime in Mozambique; and its decline with the advent of the 2nd Republic (1988), when changing economic policies brought performance state patronization to an end.
Makwayela was to play an important role in the expression and articulation of national identity.
choral performance acts as functional solidarity strategy both for performers and audiences, since a common historical and emotional experience is channeled through visual, sonic and motional sensations.
Choral performing groups in Maputo act as voluntary associations, which help to promote migrational paths and to successfully adapt urban migrants to the social and economical reality of the city,
If, on the one hand, urban dwellers are limited and conditioned in their acts by groups to which they belong, on the other hand these groups provide a focal point for personal interaction and urban integration.
The play of groups' networks, and their ways of social action, provide newcomers the necessary tools
to operate within the constraints imposed by a new physical and social urban environment.
from the notes
"Makwayela. Moçambique" (Comissão Descobrimentos [CNCDP] / Expo-98 - Pavilhão de Portugal/ Tradisom; 1998), a recolha e gravação de 17 canções, dos grupos Makwayela Riya Ndlheve Muyingiseti (5 canções: Satana, Atiku Dzezu, Davula Mananga, Psinuyane, Hi Mani Leyi a Psitiwaka), Makwayela Confiança (5: Watsongwani Wa Masiku Lawa, Hé Nwina Masungukate, A Mahanyele, Tindjombo, Tiwoneleni Ka Maputso), Makwayela LAM (2: Wana Wa Moçambique, Ghogo Mandela), Makwayela TPM (5: Satana, Famba Teresa, A Hi Tiwoneleni A Wayiwi, Tatana Wa Watsongwana, Xitimela Ka Manhiça).
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